In general, adhesives used to secure building materials involve applying the adhesive to a substrate by trowel or some other spreading means. Although this may be useful in small areas, if the adhesive has to be applied to a large area such as a floor or wall, then the application of the adhesive may not be straightforward and efficient. Thus, adhesives that can be effectively applied to substrates in an even and consistent manner are desirable.
One approach involves the use of pressurized adhesive systems for applying an adhesive to a substrate. Although the use of these systems provides an easy way to apply the adhesive over a large surface area, there are some considerations when using these systems. Traditional adhesive systems for packaging into a pressurized container such as an aerosol can or propane type cylinder have been solvent-based compounds because of good solubility, low cost, solvency in standard pressure propellant systems such as propane, butane, and isobutene compounds and blends thereof, and in some cases high pressure propellant systems such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The majority of these traditional systems usually contain at least some VOCs or some level of flammability. Solvent-based systems also usually carry with them a number of undesirable health hazards, environmental concerns, or even the possibility of being explosive in nature. As local, state and national governmental regulations have been tightening the requirements for adhesives and other chemical-based products to contain less VOC and to be more environmentally friendly, it has become necessary to research more environmentally friendly alternatives to adhesives.
Another issue involves the ability of the adhesive to adhere heavy building materials such as, for example, ceramic tiles, to walls. The adhesive should possess good cohesion and strength, which is useful in adhering large materials to walls. However, the strength or cohesive properties of the adhesive has to be balanced with its tack properties. If the adhesive has very good strength characteristics but poor tack properties, then the adhesive is not very effective. The same applies if the adhesive has good tack properties but poor strength.